Bradford District Labour Party

Manifesto 2014

Investing for tomorrow and delivering today At a time when the Government is hitting the District with disproportionate and unfair spending cuts, when people are suffering a cost of living crisis and when national policies are benefiting the wealthy towns and suburbs of Southern England at the expense of the North, your Labour Council has continued to deliver good services, meet the needs of local people and invest in the future to the benefit of us all.

The cost of Cameron and Clegg to Bradford District can be measured in damage to public services, jobs, the economy and incomes as people struggle with the cost of living crisis.

Bradford has seen school building programmes axed, money for housing slashed and budgets for the NHS and policing cut. Council funding has been cut by over £100m with £115m more to come yet Councils in the wealthiest parts of the South will see their income increase.

Meanwhile demand for school places and social care is increasing and we need better schools, more jobs and training and good local services to meet the needs of a growing population. Cuts to welfare are hitting local people hard, especially the bedroom tax, and increasing homelessness and demand for crisis services.

The Council cannot stay the same. Cuts handed down on this scale mean very tough decisions about services have to be made.

That’s why you need a Labour Council that can be trusted to deliver fairness and opportunity, protect the most vulnerable, give all our children a good start, to work for prosperity, good services and invest in infrastructure and jobs.

A value for money Labour Council that has shown it listens to and works with local people and is prepared to take decisions for the long term not just short-term fixes.

A Labour Council you can trust to lead, listen and deliver.

A Labour Council investing for tomorrow and delivering today.

Leader, Bradford Labour Group Our Vision

With Labour leadership we can build a City and District that stands proud on its own two feet, where ambition, fairness and opportunity are ever present.

Where education is valued, enterprise and effort rewarded, culture and diversity celebrated and respected.

Where there is help for those least able to help themselves and where people understand that together they achieve what they can never achieve alone and take responsibility for helping to make it a better place to live.

To achieve this Bradford District needs a Labour Council you can trust to invest for tomorrow and deliver today. Labour will fight for the NHS, tackle inequality, care for the most vulnerable and help more people to keep living in their own homes and communities.

- **Defending the NHS and Fighting for a Fair Deal for Bradford**
- **Tackling Inequality in Health**
- **Investing in New Homes for Older and Disabled People**
- **More Choice, More Independence** Improving health is a top priority so the District needs a Labour Council that will fight against Tory and Lib Dem attacks on the NHS and for local health services to get the funding they deserve. We have fought off Tory plans to cut NHS funding from Bradford and Airedale and Labour will concentrate on reducing the District’s big inequalities in health and life expectancy, not on needless, expensive top-down re-organisations of health services.

Your Labour Council, working closely with health services, has made big investments that are helping to tackle health inequalities, cut winter deaths and reduce infant mortality. We are taking action on fuel poverty, helping people to cut their energy bills and investing in financial advice to help keep people out of crisis and poverty.

Labour is giving vulnerable people greater choice and independence, supporting them to stay in their own homes and is caring for those unable to care for themselves. We’ve invested £16.9m more to meet the rising demand for social care and delivered new extra care and intermediate care housing. Many people who had previously lived in care homes most of their lives are now able to take their own decisions and live independently and young people with disabilities are getting work experience thanks to Labour.

**Labour will**

- Defend the NHS from Government attacks

- Tackle poverty and health inequality

- Give more choice and independence in housing and care for older and vulnerable people including more extra care and intermediate care provision in Saltaire and Keighley with a view to further expansion in Bradford

- Help people regain and keep their health and independence.

- Help more people to live at home for longer.

- Improve the care and support available to people in communities to help them help themselves and support each other and take the lead in developing dementia friendly towns and communities.

- Improve services and make savings through greater integration of health and social care Labour will keep improving schools and making sure young people have the skills to get good jobs.

- Better Schools, Better Opportunities

- A Good School For Every Child

- Improving Skills

- Protecting Vulnerable Children

- Fighting Child Poverty

- Young People Driving Youth Provision Local schools are improving with the help of investment from your Labour Council and most are now good or better.

We have built two new special schools, expanded the numbers of school places and will deliver a new secondary school, but pressure on school places remains. We will carry on lobbying Government for the resources our children and families need.

The Tory led Coalition cut funding for Children’s Centres by over £10m. Labour will work with parents and communities to find ways to keep delivering despite the massive and unfair cuts.

Young people need the right qualifications and skills to get good jobs which is why we will keep investing in high quality training that matches young peoples skills to the needs of local employers.

Labour has protected funding for services to the District’s most vulnerable children from Government cuts and is taking concerted action to tackle child poverty.

We will give young people the chance to decide on the youth provision they want to see in their communities.

Labour will

- Keep increasing the number of good or better schools for all our children.

- Challenge and support schools to improve.

- Deliver a new secondary school to reduce pressure on places.

- Campaign for the money to provide the places our children need

- Improve skills and further develop Industrial Centres of Excellence matching young peoples’ skills to employers’ needs.

- Protect and care for the most vulnerable children

- Fight child poverty.

- Put young people in the driving seat. Labour will attract new jobs and investment, tackle youth unemployment and revitalise our City and Town Centres.

- **Tackling Youth Unemployment**

- **Creating More Jobs and Apprenticeships**

- **Regenerating the District**

- **Increasing Prosperity, Reducing Inequality**

- **Building A World Class District for Culture**

- **Improving Transport Infrastructure** Labour will keep investing to reduce youth and long term unemployment through “Get Bradford Working”, the biggest project of its kind, that is delivering new jobs, apprenticeships and work experience to young and long term unemployed people from all our communities, ensuring that they have the skills and confidence to enter employment.

Labour is making visible progress not the artists impressions of the past. We’re delivering Westfield’s Broadway Shopping Centre and we’ve improved city and town centre public spaces, opened a brand new city centre library and City Park has attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors and millions of pounds. Labour will keep working hard to regenerate your city and town centres.

Our “can do, will do” approach to business and investment is increasing investor confidence, attracting new jobs and driving development across the whole District.

Labour will continue to deliver policies on jobs, investment and skills that reduce inequality and increase prosperity.

We are ambitious about building a world class cultural offer helping to drive the economy forward, attract investment and improve education and quality of life. Labour will do more to realise Bradford’s potential as a leading cultural City and District.

A Labour Council will improve the District’s transport infrastructure to deliver significant economic, social and environmental benefits.

Labour will

- Invest more to tackle youth and long term unemployment through Get Bradford Working to deliver more jobs and apprenticeships and better skills.
- Progress the regeneration of our District
- Deliver a Retail Academy so local people are ready to take employment opportunities at Westfield’s Broadway Development.
- Work to attract further high value advanced manufacturing jobs.
- Promote and help to deliver Bradford as a world class cultural District.
- Tackle congestion in Keighley
- Make sure we get new stations at Low Moor and Apperley Bridge
- Improve transport infrastructure. Everybody Needs A Decent Home

Labour is delivering more affordable homes, cutting the numbers of empty homes, putting brownfield first, supporting the vulnerable and boosting the economy.

- Increasing Housing Supply Including Affordable Homes
- Revitalising Empty Homes
- Preventing Homelessness
- Balanced Approach to Sustainable Development While Protecting Our Open Spaces Everyone has a right to a decent, affordable home. Labour is investing to increase the number of affordable homes including building the first Council houses for 30 years. We continue to make building more of the right homes in the right places at the right prices a priority which will also boost employment and our economy.

Empty homes are a wasted resource and environmental blight so Labour has been reducing their numbers, successfully bringing 3,000 back into use. Labour will keep revitalising empty homes including more city centre properties. Our policy is rejuvenating neighbourhoods, increasing housing stock, creating jobs and preserving green space.

A Labour Council will continue to help vulnerable home owners with repairs and assist people to cut the costs of heating their homes. We will promote low carbon homes and the use of clean and efficient energy sources.

Homelessness is increasing as the Government’s welfare cuts kick in including the hated bedroom tax. Labour will support people in crisis to prevent them becoming homeless and continue to call on the Government to abolish the bedroom tax.

We will help to protect green and open spaces by concentrating most new housing development in urban areas and ensuring the District has a Local Plan in place to manage housing, economic growth and jobs otherwise developers will pick and choose where they want to build.

Labour will

- Identify funding to build more affordable homes.
- Bring more empty properties into use including more in the City centre.
- Reduce homelessness and support vulnerable households
- Put brownfield first where possible by focussing new housing on urban areas like Canal Road and the City Centre and delaying the release of green space. Keeping Communities Clean, Safe and Active

Despite unprecedented and unfair Government cuts Labour will keep doing all it can to make sure that everyone can live in a decent place where their families are safe, there are good local services and they get more say in what goes on.

- Keeping Communities Safe
- Keeping Weekly Bin Collections
- Increasing Recycling
- Delivering New Swimming Pools
- Supporting Communities and Local Decisions Labour has kept Police Community Support Officers and Council wardens on the streets, taken action on problem families, delivered high quality Domestic Violence Services and invested more to protect children from sexual exploitation. We will keep working closely with the Police to keep communities safe and will fight Government cuts to frontline Policing.

Labour will retain weekly bin collections and improve recycling. We will deliver decent standards of cleansing to all areas with particular emphasis on keeping our City and town centres clean. A Labour Council will work with local people to maintain good quality parks and open spaces and will undertake major improvements at Cliffe Castle.

Labour will maintain a high quality network of leisure and library services and build new swimming pools to increase provision and access. Libraries in the main centres will be retained but elsewhere we will work to put more communities in charge of their management and locate them with other services.

More decisions are being taken locally and more people are able to become involved in shaping local services and the future of their communities. As further Government cuts bite local people will have to be more active in delivering what they want for their communities and Labour will support them to get involved.

Labour will

- Keep uniformed patrols on the streets

- Fight Government cuts to Policing

- Keep Weekly Bin Collections and Improve Recycling

- Build new swimming pools but no pools will close until replacements open.

- Take more decisions locally

- Make services more co-ordinated and responsive at a neighbourhood level.

- Help people to get involved in improving their neighbourhood. Labour is cutting the inefficiency and waste left by ten years of a Tory run Council.

- **Efficient and Value for Money**

- **Low Council Tax**

- **Fair, Open and Transparent**

- **Fighting For A Better Deal for Bradford**

**Keeping Council Tax Low**

Annual increase % Since Labour started running the Council in 2010 we have slashed management costs by £13m as part of a £24m efficiency drive. We’ve made big savings on property costs and energy bills by using fewer buildings and investing in efficient, clean and renewable energy. Spending on expensive private consultants has reduced by £7m. We keep on making efficiencies and cutting costs as a matter of course and closer collaboration and integration with other public services will help us to keep driving down costs.

The Council is far more business like with Labour and we’ve driven harder bargains with suppliers and contractors to save money.

Labour’s action has helped to provide some protection to services from Government cuts and to keep Council Tax the lowest in West Yorkshire.

and Lib Dems whose legacy included vastly inflated management costs, duplication, disastrous and expensive privatisations, wasteful projects like the botched £8m Asset Management Plan, a £3m wage bill for an ineffective regeneration company and increases in Council Tax of nearly 4% a year.

Labour will work to build an efficient, sustainable and secure future for council services, local people, communities and businesses.

We have a track record of listening and responding to the concerns of local people and that will remain a hallmark of a Labour Council.

We will keep fighting for a fairer deal from Government and more local powers.

Labour will provide honest, responsible leadership that invests for tomorrow and delivers today.

Contrast our record with the Tories

Labour will

- Keep cutting costs and improving efficiency
- Keep Council Tax low
- Deliver value for money
- Be open, honest and listen to local people
- Promote opportunity and equality for all.